Getting around Cairo: public transport, passes and taxis

Cairo is a sprawl of about 20 million people with one river, a handful of bridges and a road network that jams for most of the working day. Distance in kilometres tells you very little; time of day tells you almost everything. The table below is the short version — pick by trip type, not by price alone.

The Cairo Metro is the only thing in the city that reliably beats traffic. Lines run under the centre and along both banks, with interchanges downtown. It is cheap, frequent and signed in English as well as Arabic, which makes it the easiest public transport for a visitor. The trade-off is crowding: at peak hours the platforms and carriages fill to the point where you may wait for two or three trains.

Women-only carriages are marked and widely used; women are free to ride in any carriage. Keep your ticket until you exit, and expect bag checks at station entrances. Stations are not always close to the sights — for Islamic Cairo, Coptic Cairo and the Citadel you will still finish the trip in a taxi or on foot.

The monorail is a newer addition linking parts of the east of the city; it does not replace the Metro for the classic tourist routes, so check whether it actually helps your specific journey before planning around it.

Uber and Careem are the default for most visitors and most residents with a phone. The price is set before you accept, the driver knows the destination, and there is no negotiation at the end. Payment is usually in cash unless you have linked a card; carry small notes. At the pyramids, the airport and some hotel forecourts, pickups are restricted to designated zones — walk to the marked area rather than arguing with a driver who cannot enter.

Street taxis still work and can be quicker to find on a side street. The rule is simple: agree the fare before you get in, or insist on the meter and watch that it is started. Have the destination written in Arabic if you can, and carry change — drivers rarely have any. Late at night, app cars are the safer and calmer option.

Cairo transport is cheap by US or European standards, and the gap between the cheapest and most comfortable option is small in absolute terms. Budget on the assumption that you will take more app rides than you planned: the Metro does not reach the pyramids, the Citadel or most hotels in Giza.

A day of mixed travel — two or three app rides plus a Metro hop — usually lands around EGP 200–500 (roughly US$4–10). A private car and driver for a full day of sights is the single biggest line item at US$40–100, and it is often better value than four separate app rides between distant sites.

Traffic is the planning constraint, not distance. A 6 km trip across the river can take 15 minutes at 06:00 and 50 minutes at 17:00. Build slack into any day that ends with a train, a flight or a timed museum slot, and check live traffic in your app before leaving.

Friday mornings are the quietest roads of the week; Sunday to Thursday evenings are the worst. Ramadan shifts the peaks — the roads empty shortly before sunset and jam again late at night. If you are heading to Giza or the Grand Egyptian Museum, leave early and plan to be there at opening.

For Saqqara, Dahshur and Memphis, a private car and driver for the day is the practical choice — the sites are spread out and app coverage is patchy at the far ends. For Alexandria, the train is comfortable and avoids the Delta road traffic; book ahead in peak season. El Alamein is a longer run and better done as an overnight or with a tour.

For the Nile Valley, the sleeper train or a domestic flight replaces road transport entirely. Within Cairo, the main railway station is on the Metro network, which makes a train departure straightforward if you allow time for the crush.